Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-09-15
ENGINES OF DEATH.


i .sN6O W SebAts
The Wonderful Progress In the Arts of
Strengthening Men In Battle.
The death of Herr Krupp. the pro-
prietor of the great steel works at Es-
sen. removes from the world one whose
greatest fame was Won in carrying to
the highest point of development the
manufacture of the implements of hui
man destruction. Although the Krupps
have for generations carried on the
business Of making steel for peaceful
uses. tires. engines, shafts and the one
hundred and one articles called for by
the complicated machinery of modern
manufacturing. yet they are best known
| by the effective artillery they have fur
nished to the armies and fortresses of
the world. To the lover of peace the
krupps seem elevated to Il bad emf
hence among those who have provided
the machinery of slaughter demanded
by the Titanic methods of cOntempO-
rary warfare. And yet the Krupps
have only relatively done more than
others to make modern war more
dreadful than the wars of the last cent
ury. They have developed the art of
cannon making beyond that reached
by their competitors. that is all
The wonderful modern progress in
the arts of slaughtering men on the
battlefield began about thirty years
ago. and in this dreadful development
the United States was one of the lead
ers. The Dahlgren gun. invented by
the late Admiral of that name. was a
wonder to the artillerists of thirty
years ago 1t was the most effective
of guns until Louis Napoleon developed
the idea of rifling cannon. Up to the
close of the Crimean war the sixty
eight-pounder was the heaviest broad
side gun in use, and the majority of
men-of-war still carried thirty-two-
Founders in their batteries. Our civil
war brought forward the Rodman and
Parrot guns, and ten and twelve-inch
pieces frowned a warning from the tur-
rets OF monitors to the powers of the
Old World not to NEEDLE in the affairs
of the United States. At the close of
the war Of the rebellion the Dahlgren.
Rodman and Parrot guns made the
United States the most powerfully
armed of nations. England had the
Armstrong gun and the Whitworth.
but possessed of these she had no desire
TO try conclusions with American ord
nance.
Our war was the last great contest
fought with muzzle-loading small arms.
The war of 1866 demonstrated the
great superiority that breech-loaders
gave their pOssessOrs. The needle
gun, now regarded as very primi-
tive weapon, destroyed Austrian lead
ership in Germany. Then came the
dreadful slaus htering matches in
France in 1870, when both sides were
armed with breech-loaders and the
mitrailleuse came into play. Then it
was supposed that the very highest de-
yelopment of arms making had been
reached. but since then cannon and
small arms have been manufactured,
but happily not much used in the field,
which made the contemplation of tut
ure battles simply dreadful How long
is this competition among the nations
in arming to continue? No sooner is
q ship launched by one of the powers |
sheathed with plates deemed impene-
trable and equipped with guns that
surpass in power of penetration any
heretofore known. than another power !
puts into the water vessel that ex-
ceeds the first in both the powers of IN
jury and resistance. No sooner is the |
army of France furnished with rap
id-firing rifle, than that of Germany is |
equipped with the Mauser, the fire of !
which can be thickened at will.
Men to-day can be shot dead at
ranges which twenty years ago could |
not be covered by the most powerful |
rifles then known. Where shillings |
were expended for military purposes
by the great European powers, half
century ago. pounds are put out to-
day. Meanwhile the strain of militia
rism on the physical vitality of
foreign nations is something of which
we fortunate Americans can form but
Il faint realization. France proposes
to sweep into the army the only sons
of widows, a class heretofore exempt;
substitutes are to be no longer allowed.
and the richest and poorest are to be
put into the ranks. In the long run
the demands of militarism must defeat
themselves. The dragon will bite him
self in his fiery rage. and die. 1t is
simply impossible for human nature to
endure for another generation the ex-
hausting process now in progress in
the continental European powers.
Unless disarmament is sooner brought
about by the shuddering remorse of
the nations. after some dreadful cata-
clysm. it must be reached by the sheer
of treasures and of men,
Boston Transcript.